Refrigerating apparatus



June 23, 1936. H. F. sMn'H 2,045,000

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Original Filed July 30, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 wvl-n ZM@ M ...m

zo ATroRNEYS June 23, 1936. H@ r-. SMITH REFRIGERATiNG APPARATUS Original Filed July 50, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ,all

vent rupturing of the Patented June 23, 1936 UNITED STATES BEFRIGERATIN G APPARATUS Harry F. Smith, Dayton,

Ohio, assignor, by mesne assignments, to General Motorscorporation.

a corporation of Delaware Application July 30. maserati No. 554,061 Renewed December 12, 1933 14 Claims.

'I'his invention relates to refrigerating appara.- tus and more particularly to heat insulated cabi-v net construction.

In the manufacture of insulated cabinets, it has been proposed to use air spaces in the walis thereof to prevent the transfer of heat therethrough. Heretofore such practice has been unsatisfactory for the reason that radiant heat will pass freely through air, and, in addition, the convection currents set up therein will transfer large' amounts of heat therethrough. Toovercome the transfer oi radiant heat it has been proposed to provide a 'dead air space bounded by a thin bright metal foil or aluminum foil. By the term metal foil is meant thin leaves of metal either with or without paper backing of such thickness that they can be readily formed to any desired shape. It has been found that these bright metallicfsurfaces of foil radiate but very little heat, and consequently it is possible to utilize air spaces lined with such bright surfaces in heat insulating cabinets.` By making .the air spaces smaller by providing .more air spaces, and by reducing-the radiation loss, the convection currents are minimized.

Attempts to adapt such thin bright metallic foil to cabinet construction so as toL utilize air spaces in the walls thereof for insulating purposes have met with great difficulty. In the rst place, this foil is extremely thin and consequently must be constructed in such a. manner as to prefoil: during the assembly of the cabinet and after the cabinet is in service. In addition, the foil must be so supported Within the cabinet walls so as to maintain it substantially taut throughout the life of the cabinet, While at the same time preventing the transfer of heat through these supporting means. Thirdly, in using foil insulation, a dierent type oi' construction is usually necessary. In many typ oi' insulation the insulation itself can be used to support portions oi the cabinet since it has some compressive strength. When foil insulation is used, such methods of support cannot be used and other types of supports are necessary.

It is to such structure that my invention pary ticularly relates having for one of its objects to provide an improved cabinet construction having foil insulation, that is a cabinet capable of utilizing a thin bright metallic foil to advantage while at the Same time eliminating most of its disadvantages.

More particularly, it is an object oi the invention to provide an improved cabinet construction having an improved type of foil insulation in the leaf, `such for instance as bright (Cl. 22u-9) I form of independent panels and having an improved type of structural members especially adapted, though not necessar for use with the improved type of foil insulatio Further objects and advantages of the present' 5 invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, wherein a preferred form of the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawings: Fig. i is ahorizontal sectional view through an ice cream cabinet disclosingV one form of the invention; l f

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view through the ice cream cabinet; i i' '15' Fig. 3 is a sectional View alon" the lines 3-3 of Fig. 1 with the insulation removed.

Fig. 4 is a sectional viewalongthe lines 4 4 of Fig. 2.with the insulation removed, and

Fig. 5 is a sectional view along the lines 5-5 of 20 Fig. 4 but including the insulation.

Inorder to illustrate my invention, I have shown in the drawings anice cream cabinet. Referring more particularly to Fig. 2 there is provided a base to which is fastened an angle 25 iron outer framework 2| which supports the outer Walls of the cabinet. 'I'he angle iron members 22 of th'e framework 2| extend along the edges of the base 20 and their ends are connected to upright angle members 23. To the upper ends of these vupright angle members 23. are attached the upper cross members 24 which support the top of the cabinet; The side walls-w25, 26, 2l, and 28 are supported by, and attached to, the angle iron framework 2 I. These side walls may be attached 35 to the framework by bolts, rivets, welding; or other suitable means so that the framework becomes an integral part of the walls. Similarly, the top wall 29 is supported by and attached to the upper cross members 24. Y

Within the interior oi the cabinet there is provided a food storage compartment 3s which, in the present case, may be used for storing ice cream or similar foods. If desired, this food storage compartment may be provided with a brine type of cooling, but preferably, in order to reduce the weight of the-cabinet, and particularly the weight of the food storage compartment, it is desirable to apply the refrigerant directly to the walls of the food storage compartment. Accordingly, in A Fig. 2 this type of refrigeration is illustrated, and refrigerant conduits in the two sections 3l and 32 surround the food storage compartment and are in thermal contact therewith for applying the refrigeration to the food storage compartment. is

,cabinet is provided with a downwardly turned` flangel, which holds the upper portion of the insulating collar 36 in place. The insulating collar ,35 provides a wall around the hand holes and yet prevents the conduction of heat between the outer Walls and the wallsvof the food storage compartment. The top wall 29 of the cabinet is provided with a bright metallic covering 38, preferably of monel or stainless steel.

A novel means for supporting the food storage compartment is provided. Formerly, in such cabinets it was quite customary to support the food storage compartment upon the insulation. In the present instance, such constructionis impossible and consequently I have devised a means for supporting the food storage compartment from the outer walls of the cabinet. In supporting the food storage compartment from the outer walls of the cabinet,it is necessary to so design the connecting means that little heat is conducted from the outer walls of the cabinet to the food storage compartment. In order to provide a construction having these qualities, I have provided a plurality of triangular brackets or anchor plates, generally designatedas 40, which are fastened to each of the inner corners of thevouter walls Vby welding another-suitable means. Eachof these brackets 40 are providedwith three holes into which turnbuokles 4I -are inserted. These turnbuckles are eachithreaded on to the end of guy wires, such as forexamplezto the guy wire 42, which guy wiresV connect tof portions -of the walls of the food storagecompartment. Taking -the guy wire 43 shown in Fig. 3 for an example, the method of fastening the. guyvwires to the food storage compartment will` be described. -Inthis type of construction, a strip of metal 44 istaken and provided with a loop to receive -a sleeve 45 and then the ends of the strip are fastened Ypreferably at the center of one of the edges of the food storage compartment by welding or other suitable means. The vguy wire 43 in this case is threaded through this sleeve 45 and has its ends threaded into the turnbuckles-46 and 41 which are held within apertures within the brackets 48 and 49 in the inner corners of the outer walls 0f the cabinet.- The lupper ends of the turnbuckles preferably Ahave a spherical contour to provide a ball and socket joint. By stretching the guy wires over the corners of the outer walls of the cabinet to a point in the middle of the edges of the foodstorage compartment, a comparatively long path for the heat, to travel is provided. Since these guy wires are of a very small diameter and of a metalhaving a relatively low value vof heat conductivity, vthe loss of heat through this method of supporting construction is relatively small. This type of supporting construction also lends itself very well to my improved type of foil insulation.

A similar supporting construction is provided throughout the cabinet. The' trangular brackets', as mentioned-before, are provided in each of the inner corners of the outer walls, and attaching angle-shaped strips, similar to the attaching strip 44, are fastened to the center portions oi each of the edges of the food storage compartment. Each of these attaching strips is provided with loops, similar to that provided for the strip 44, for receiving a sleeve. Guy wires are stretched from the triangular brackets through the sleeves, held by adjacent attaching strips, to other triangular brackets. The connections be- Ltween the guy 'wires and the triangular brackets are preferably made by turnbuckles threaded onto the guy wires. At this point it should be observed that all of the guy wires extend in planes determined by adjacent edges of the inner and outer walls and theseplanes are positioned at an angle of'45" to the sides of the food storage compartment.

In my improved type of foil insulation a rectangular frame member of a peculiar type is provided for supporting the sheets of foil in spaced relation. Preferably, there is one frame member for each wall of the cabinet but this may vary according to the size, shape, and `construction of the cabinet.

As shown at the side of Fig. 2, this rectangular frame member is preferably constructed of corrugated cardboard having smooth outer surfaces which extend at an angle of 45, preferably, to the plane of the rectangle. The inner surfaces ofthe rectangular frame member 5| are formed of the corrugatedvstrip of cardboard 52 which is fastened to a plain strip of lcardboard 53 which forms the outer side of the rectangular member. The corrugated strip of cardboard 52 has its corrugations extending around the rectangle so as to form a plurality of steps extending entirely around the interior of the rectangle to which the edges of the sheets of bright metallic foil may be attached. The steps will, of course, have perimeters of different lengths. The outer strip of cardboard 53 and the inner corrugated strip of cardboard 52 are, of course, attached together by a suitable glue or paste.

There are several methods ofV attaching the sheets of bright metallic foil to these rectangular frame members. One of the methods is shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 5. In this method, a. rectangular wiresub-frame 54 is provided which just fits into one of the corrugations or steps extending .around `the inner surface of the rectangular member.

These sub-frames are preferably similar and the sub-frame 54 is merely taken as an example. A sheet of bright metallic foil 55 is attached to such avrectangular wire sub-frame 54 by ,a suitable glue or` paste and then this sub-frame member,

, together with the attached foil is inserted into its place upon one of the corrugations or steps of the rectangular frame member 5|. Preferably the rectangular member 5i has been provided With a suitable glue or paste so that when the rectangular sub-frame 54, provided with a sheet of bright metallic foil 55, is put into proper position, it will be heid in place by such glue or paste. Spaced from the rectangular subframe 54, and provided with sheets oi' bright metallic foil 55, are similar rectangular sub-frames 56 and 51. rIhese sub-frames are similar to the frames 55 but the sub-frame 56 is made smaller in size so as to fit into the innermost corrugation or step which extends around the interior of the rectangular member 5|. In this way a dead air space is provided between the subframes 55 and 56. The sub-frame 51. is made larger than the sub-frame 54 so that it ts into another corrugation or step which is farther from the food storage compartment than the subframe 54 and which also extends around the in yner and outer walls, said inner walls forming a ner sides of the rectangular frame member 5|.

This sub-frame 51 is similarly provided with bright bottom of the cabinet.

metallic foil and is similarly attached to the rectangular frame member 5l. In this way a dead air space lined with bright metallic foil is provided between the sub-frames 54 and 51. A still larger sub-frame 58, provided with bright metallic foil, iits within the outermost corrugation or step which extends around the rectangular member 5I. In this manner an independent insulation panel is built up.

This panel is preferably constructed in the manner described above before its assembly into the cabinet. In this form, the panel is easily assembled.y and easily handled. Furthermore, by

making the sides of the panels at an angle of 45, l it is possible to provide a mitered joint at the corners of the cabinet. With suitable equipment, the sheets of foil may be glued or pasted directly to the corrugatlons or steps without the preliminary operation of mounting the sheets of foil upon -a rectangular wire frame. The guy wires 42, since they are connected from the inner corners of theouter walls to the edges of the foodstorage compartment, extend within a plane which forms an angle of 45 to the walls of the cabinet. The insulation panels, having edges of 45 are placed vin the cabinet so that their edges abut the guy Wires. These guy wires thus pass between the adjacent edges of different panels. With such a construction, proper insulation is provided for the corners of the cabinet and no passages are left which would allow the circulation of air.

` For the top wall of the cabinet, a slightly different type of insulation is provided. In this type, a rectangular cardboard frame member Gl is provided which has both its inner and outer sides smooth. Referring more particularly to Fig. 5, the cardboard collar 62 surrounds the insulating collar 36. Sheets of bright metallic foil 63, beginning from a very small size nearest to the food storage compartment and growing progressively larger as they are positioned farther away from the food storage compartment, have their edges 65 and 65 glued o'r pasted directly to the outer rectangular member 6I and to the sleeves B2. Inorder to properly support the sleeves 62, heavy cardboard members 67 and 68 connect the rectangular member 6l with sleeves 52. It will be seen that this type of panel insulation is equally applicable to the sides and By providing proper equipment and machinery, this type of panel construction, as Well as the other types described herein, may be easily produced according to mass productionmethods.

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which iollow.

What is claimed is as follows:

l. An insulated storage compartment including inner and outer walls, said inner walls forming a container, said outer Walls being spaced from said inner walls, and means for supporting said inner walls by said outer walls including a plurality of wires connecting said inner anduter `walls and insulating means between said inner and outer walls, said insulating means including a plurality of spaced sheets of bright metallic foil having air spaces between the sheets.

2. An insulated storage cabinet including inrectangular container, said outer Walls being spaced from said inner walls forming an' insulating space therebetween, and wires extending diagonally connecting the corners of said outer cabinet with intermediate points upon the edges of the inner Walls for supporting said inner walls by said outer walls. l

3. An.insulated storage cabinet including in-- ner and outer walls, insulating means between said inner and outer walls including a polygon panel structure, said panel structure having its sides beveled, and a plurality of sheets of bright metallic foil, spaced from each other by air spaces, said sheets `of foil being stretched between the sides of the panel structure and having their edges fastened to the inner surface of the sides of the panel structure.

4. An insulated storage cabinet including inner and outer walls, insulating means between said inner and outer walls including a polygon panel structure comprising a polygon frame structure, said frame structure having its sides arranged atan angle to the plane of the panel structure, said sides having a plurality of steps extending around the sides of the frame structure, and sheets of bright metallic foil stretched across said frame structure and having their edges attached to said steps to hold said sheets of foil in spaced relation so as to form air spaces therebetween.

5. An insulated storage cabinet including inner and Iouter walls, vinsulating means between .arranged at an angle to the plane'of the panel structure, said sides having a plurality of steps extending around the sides of the `frame structure, a plurality of wire subframes formed to t upon said steps, said sub-frames having sheets of bright metallic foil thereon, said sub-frames with their sheets of foil being attached to said steps for holding said sheets of foil in spaced relation to provide air spaces between the sheets.

6. An insulated storage. cabinet including in ner and outer walls, and insulation'between said inner and outer walls including a plurality of polygon frames, said frames having some of their sides adjacent some of the sides of other frames, said frames having their adjacent sides arranged at complementary angles 4so that the sides will fit together at the corners, a plurality of sheets of bright metallic foil stretched between the sides of said frames, said sheets being spaced from each other providing air spaces therebe- `tween, the edges of said sheets being attached tween said sheets of foil.

An insulated storage cabinet including inner and outer walls, and insulating means between said Walls including a plurality of polygon frames, a plurality of wire sub-frames iitting into said polygon frames, sheets of bright metallic foil upon said wire sub-frames, said sheets of foil and sub-frames being spaced to provide air spaces therebetween, said sub-frames with their sheets of foil being attached to the inner surfaces ci said polygon frames.

9. An insulated storage cabinet including inner and outer walls, and insulation between said inner and outer walls including a piurality of polygon frames, said frames having some of their sides adjacent some of the sides of other frames, 'said frames having their adjacent sides arranged at 'complementary angles so that the sides will. t together at the corners, a plurality of wire l sub-frames formed to fit said 'polygon frames,

said sub-frames having sheets of bright metallic foil attached thereto, said sub-frames with their sheets of foil being attached to said polygon frames in spaced relation for providing air spaces between said sheets oi foil.

10. An insulated storage cabinet including inner and outer walls, said inner walls forming a rectangular container, said outer 1Walls being spaced from said inner Walls forming an insulating space therebetween, and wiresy connecting the edges of said inner and outer Walls for supporting said inner walls by the outer walls and insulation panels between said inner and outer walls, said panels having their edgesat an angle so as to fit together at the intersections of the'walls and'to have their edges bordering the wires.

11. An insulated storage cabinet including inner and outer walis, said inner walls forming a rectangular container, said outer walls being spaced from saidA inner walls forming an insulating space therebetween, brackets in the corners of said outer walls, wire holding members fastened to intermediate points upon the edges of said inner walls, and wires stretched l aoeaooo diagonally between said holding members and said brackets for supporting said inner walls.

12. An insulated storage cabinet including inner and outer walls, at least one of said walls forming e, rectangular container, the inner walls being spaced from the outer walls forming a space therebetween, and wires extending diagonally connecting the corners of the rectangular container with points remote from said corners upon the other walls spaced therefrom for supporting the inner Walls by the outer walls, a plurality of said remote points each having a wire extending diagonally to two of said corners of said rectangular container.

13. A rectangular insulating structure including inner and outer Walls and insulating means between the inner and outer Walls comprising a plurality of rectangular frames having their peripheral sides beveled so as to interiit at the corners of the insulating structure, a plurality of sheets spaced from each other by gas spaces vsupported by having their edges fastened to the inner sides of the rectangular frames.

14. A structure including inner walls forming an inner polyhedron wall structure, an outer polyhedron structure spaced from and surrounding the inner walls, and wires extending from the corners of one of the polyhedron structures I to intermediate points between 'the corners of HARRY F. SMITH. 

